Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Welcome changes

The Union HRD Ministry's proposal to introduce changes in the Joint Entrance Examination to IIT is welcome. Students no longer read textbooks, journals and periodicals. They depend heavily on bazaar guides and coaching class booklets to pass competitive examinations. The proposal to test comprehension and analytical ability in the JEE will encourage students to go back to their books. It will be of immense help to parents and students if the Ministry makes it compulsory for all coaching centres to give the percentage of students who did not succeed while advertising the number of students who made it to IIT. One-sided statistics on results glorifying the coaching classes lure students and parents alike.

Harischandra Parasuram,
Mumbai

The restriction on the number of attempts to two is shocking, particularly for those who have sacrificed two or more years after passing the XII standard examinations. If implemented, it will reduce those students who are half way through their preparation for IIT-JEE 2006 to mental wrecks.

V. Krishnan,
Chennai

All reputed engineering educational institutions and universities should join the JEE stream so that the time and money spent by candidates for applying to various institutions can be limited. Their anxiety and stress can also be minimised.

P. Hariharan,
Madurai, T.N.

The reasoning that the changes will bring down the influence of coaching institutes defies logic. If the marks in Class 12 examinations are sought to be given more importance, the coaching centres will start training students to get high scores in them. Instead, the Government should be concerned about students who have spent money and time this year in preparing for JEE. Adequate time should be given to them before introducing changes in a system on which their future depends.

Abhishek Gairola,
New Delhi

Changing the two-tier system of admission to IIT into a single examination is not going to reduce the stress level of students because the level of competitiveness is going to remain the same. Options such as increasing the number of IITs should be explored.

R. Vasanth Kumar,
Pilani, Rajasthan

Thousands of students reappear and spend up to four years writing the highly coveted JEE only to find that they are frustrated in the end. At least under the new rules, they can look elsewhere once they exhaust the IIT option. It will mean wasting only one year because the first attempt will have to be made in the same year as leaving school. Of course, the limitation will affect the students from rural areas badly because they generally start preparing for IIT after completing Plus Two.

Ashwini Kumar Singh,
Gopalganj, Bihar

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